When a user downloads your app you only get one shot at creating a great first impression and getting a new user to register and set up an account before they can use the app creates friction for the user. The entire process needs to be as quick and easy as possible and this creates a challenge when you need users to complete tasks that require extra effort from them, says Lorena Vargas, a senior UI/UX designer at Modus Create. Taking AirBnB as an example, Vargas shares here "a step-by-step...

If your business relies on content marketing to succeed you need to understand how Google's mobile-first indexing is going to affect you, says digital marketing expert Neil Patel. With a 61.9 per cent share—compared with 29.3% for desktops and 8.8 per cent for tablets—smartphones have by far the largest market share of all web browsing, according to research by comScore. To help you adjust your content strategy accordingly, Patel shares this detailed guide to creating mobile-specific conten...

Nowadays, more website traffic comes from mobile devices than from desktops and this shift is influencing the way consumers interact with companies and make buying decisions. As a result, many businesses are moving away from adaptive or responsive website design and adopting a mobile-first strategy instead. Mobile-first not only has advantages for search engine optimization (SEO), it also leads to a design that's more content-focused and therefore user-focused. Here, Brian Sutter ...

With push notifications app publishers can speak directly with users and it's important to treat this type of communication as a privilege, not a right. Otherwise, you may find you're treading a fine line between adding value with timely reminders or useful hints and tips, and annoying users with poorly timed or irrelevant messages. And once a push notification is sent, it's sent. There's no taking it back. As a marketing tool, a push message is "no less important than SMS and email, so app...

Inclusive design creates products, services and spaces that can be used by as many people as possible, regardless of age, gender and disability. While design can't necessarily give a blind person sight or make an old person young again, it can minimize the mismatch between someone's ability and their environment, writes Katharine Schwab. Here, she shares how four designers are working to make products, services and spaces more accessible, why inclusive design should be the primary way of thinkin...

We're not as rational or logical as we think we are when it comes to making decisions. We may weigh up the evidence and consider the implications, yet most of our decisions rely more on our instincts and emotions than on reason or logic. Understanding the psychology and neuroscience behind decision-making is crucial for product designers because you need to cater to both the logical brain and the emotional brain. And getting the balance right can be challenging. Here Vivian Zhang shares how to i...

Minimum viable products (MVPs) get your apps to market as quickly as possible with just enough features to satisfy early adopters, so you can learn what works, what doesn't work, and incorporate customer feedback into the development process. However, it's the user experience that makes the product, not the features, which is why Crashlytics co-founder Wayne Chang prefers to call them "minimum loveable products" (MLPs). Because you only get one chance to make a good impression, how a new user ex...